Staff file photo / Brian Yauger Chalker’s Ethan Bosch (3) brings down a Sebring ballcarrier during last season’s meeting.

There was a lot of excitement surrounding the Chalker football program entering the 2025 season. And who could blame them?

Last year was the team’s first full season of varsity competition since 2019. The Wildcats, now playing 8-man football, reached the state semifinals. It was their first postseason appearance since 2013, the third since 2000 and the team’s best mark since a 6-4 record in 2018. With many core players returning this season, there was a great foundation to build upon.

The 2025 season has been kind to Chalker so far. Sitting at 5-0 and outscoring their opponents by a combined 276-52, the Wildcats are off to one of the best starts in program history.

All but eight of those points surrendered this year came in one game against St. Joseph Central Catholic in a 62-44 victory for Chalker.

Justin Kren has been coaching the team since 2021, when the season was canceled due to low numbers, and he has been building the program ever since. He mentioned how that was a crucial game for his team from a “learning to win” perspective.

“We had a close game against a really good team with St Joseph, and the boys, they answered the call,” Kren said. “They came back and they won that game. That energy we were lacking at the beginning of that game — we came out kind of flat that game — they picked it up and fought back from adversity and showed what it’s like to come together as a team and win a game.”

The team’s flexibility has been a big help on both sides of the ball.

On any given game day, players can rotate positions and be comfortable wherever they’re lined up. That has the advantage of giving Chalker the freedom to line its players up wherever they’re best suited in a given matchup, as well as being a pretty unpredictable team to go against.

“With every team, everything’s different,” Kren said. “It’s far and few between that you’re going to get a team that’s going to run the same kind of offense. These guys buying in, putting the time in, watching the film before practice, after practice, buying into the scheme and a lot of them being able to play into multiple positions. There’s been games where we’ve had corners coming inside and some outside backers going to play in defensive end. It’s really just the flexibility of the kids and them buying into our team.”

Looking at the scores of their first five games, the Wildcats’ offense has been nothing short of dynamic. Chalker has yet to score less than 40 points this season, and with the exception of its most recent game against Stryker, the Wildcats have scored at least 50 points in every other game this year.

It all comes down to explosive talent, and that’s been the team’s biggest strength so far this year.

“We have playmakers. We have five to six kids you can hand the ball and they can score at any moment,” Kren said. “We just have explosive players that are hungry to win. Fast, aggressive, it’s the players. I can call whatever play I want to call, but I feel like I have five, six kids I can get the ball to at any given time.”

Collectively, the Wildcats have amassed 1,899 yards of offense, 1,536 of those in the team’s ground game. Chalker has scored 30 offensive touchdowns.

On Saturday, Chalker has the game that’s been circled on its calendar since the beginning of the season, St. Mary Central Catholic. Last season, the Wildcats finished 5-3. Two of those losses were to St. Mary, including in the state semifinals.

While Chalker has a ton of offensive firepower, Kren thinks this game will come down to physicality.

“The more physical team’s going to win the game, and I think that’s what we’re going to look forward to,” Kren said. “Hopefully, we can out-physical them in the run game defensively, keep them out of the end zone. They have a very potent offense, but defense is where we’re hanging our hat this year. Hopefully our defense shows up and we can dominate on that side of the ball.”

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Wildcat Acres in Southington.